Lawyer Network News

Saskatchewan Lawyer News

Judge to hand decision on fatal hit and run February yet

Robert Duane Barisoff will have to wait a little longer to know how much time he will be spending in jail after he submitted a guilty plea to offences resulting to Kelton Desnomie's death.

The judge had decided to reserve his decision for February after hearing sentencing submissions of both the Crown and the defence.

Court heard that Barisoff was driving a jeep when he fatally hit an intoxicated Desnomie.

He stopped and someone went down to check on Desnomie. However, Barisoff drove off without checking or assisting the victim despite the protest of his companion.

Even though he left, Barisoff still surrendered and confessed to the police on the same day.

Barisoff was not drunk nor speeding but the Crown is asking that he be jailed for about a year and be banned from driving for two years because he had left the scene without any concern for Desnomie, who was 18 at the time of his death.

Regina lawyer Jeremy Ellergodt, Barisoff's defence counsel, said that his client had panicked which was why he left but he still regretted what he did.

The lawyer added that Barisoff only deserves a three-month jail stay and a driving ban of one year citing his client's surrender and confession.

Lawyer says if insurance can avoid paying, they will not pay

Posted Nov 19, 2014 on www.thestarphoenix.com

Kenneth Noble, a lawyer in Regina who specializes in insurance claims, said that if insurance companies could find a way to avoid paying a claim, they will not pay.

Noble spoke in connection with the case of the couple from Saskatchewan, Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel and Darren, who was charged with almost a million by a hospital in Hawaii where Jennifer had to prematurely give birth to their child while on vacation.

Jennifer was six months pregnant when she and Darren decided to take a trip to Hawaii. They signed up with Saskatchewan Blue Cross for their travel insurance but now the firm is refusing to pay their bill claiming she had pre-existing conditions.

Noble said the couple's case is the biggest so far that he has heard of.

According to the lawyer, aside from checking the authenticity of a claim, insurance firms also thoroughly evaluate a claim to check if there are ways for them to avoid paying the claim.

Noble added that in this case, the couple could get a lawyer who can investigate the claim then give the results to the insurance company.

If no deal is met, parties can exhaust all legal steps available with the final step being bringing the matter before the court.

Car stunting earns teenager jail stay

Posted Sep 05, 2014 on www.leaderpost.com

Tyler Daniel Pelly was meted with a three-month jail stay to be served during the weekends for inflicting severe injuries on his two friends, who were his passengers when a car stunt he did went wrong.

He also only left after determining that it would be too hard to get his other friend out and only after a call was placed to 911 by the driver of a cab who passed by the incident.

While Judge Anna Crugnale-Reid agreed that the sentence should discourage others from committing the same offence, Pelly's age also made rehabilitation a very important factor in deciding on a sentence.

Pelly is only 18 years old.

A visa would make it easier for adopted foreign children to get to Canada

Posted Aug 28, 2014 on www.thestarphoenix.com

It has been a year ago since the Halstead legally adopted a baby boy named Seth from Congo but they have yet to see him in person.

Since the adoption, the couple have been working hard to bring Seth, who is now one-year-old to Canada, but they are caught in the middle of immigration policies between their country and Congo.

Immigration officials of Congo have refused to issue an exit permit for Seth pending the issuance of a Canadian visa.

Canada immigration officials, on the other hand, have refused to give Seth a visa not until Congo can produce the exit documents.

Nepal citizens who are working in Canada on a temporary permit should be given a reprieve, according to Calgary immigration lawyer Raj Sharma.

Sharma said that the Canadian government should do something for the foreign workers from Nepal which recently suffered from a very strong earthquake.

The lawyer has proposed to have the foreign workers from Nepal be given permanent residency as some of them already had their permits expiring.

He said that a little less than 400 Nepalese are working in Canada under the temporary foreign worker program.

Sharma added that with the catastrophe, it will not be appropriate to be sending them back to Nepal.

Pastor nets jail for possessing child pornography

Posted Jun 18, 2015 on www.edmontonsun.com

Richard John Docekal, who used to be a pastor in Edmonton, will be spending six months in jail after he submitted a guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

The 59-year-old Docekal admitted to having a large collection of pornographic materials of drawings in cartoons depicting children having sexual relations with their parents.

Ed O'Neill, a lawyer in Edmonton defending for the disgraced pastor, said that his client has regretted his misdeed which resulted to him no longer serving as a pastor.

Docekal's marriage also became a casualty of his unsavory hobby and he was also subjected to public humiliation after his arrest landed on the front pages of the news, said the lawyer.

The pastor's penchant for the pornographic materials came to light after the woman with whom he had an affair blew the whistle on him.

National defence expresses desire to settle sex assault claims

Posted Mar 16, 2015 on www.vicnews.com

London litigator Phillip Millar and lawyers of the Justice Department are working together after the Department of National Defence said it wanted to settle the claims made by eight women who alleged they were sexually assaulted by the department's medical technician.

According to the victims, they were subjected to a breast examination wherein they were touched inappropriately by James Wilks.

Wilks had denied the claims of the women and that he had done the examinations according to the standard procedure.

In 2013, several women including four of the five who have filed a claim, brought their complaints against Wilks in a court martial wherein he was convicted for several counts of breach of trust and sexual assault. The military judge gave his nod to proof that the victims, all under 40, did not have to undergo the breast examination.

He was sentenced to two years and six months which he hasn't started serving yet because he has appealed the conviction.

It was not the first time that Wilks has been convicted by a court martial because in 2011, he was also handed a nine-month sentence after he was convicted of charges of the same nature.

Millar said his clients are happy that the National Defence wants to go for a settlement.